Emerson, William Key Bond, Jr.

Born April 9, 1894, in New York City. Son of W. K. B. and Maria Furman Emerson. Educated Middlesex School, Concord, Massachusetts, and Harvard University, Class of 1916. Joined American Field Service, July 16, 1915 ; attached Section Three to November 25, 1915. Returned to college. Studied aeronautical engineering, Columbia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rejoined Field Service, January 28, 1917; attached Section Thirteen in France, then Section Three in Balkans to September 20, 1917. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted American Aviation Service. Trained as observer, French artillery school, Valdahon. Trained with 15th U. S. Field Artillery and 228th French Escadrille. Second Lieutenant, U.S. Field Artillery. Attached 12th Aero Squadron, May, 1918. Shot down and killed, May 14, 1918, near Toni. Buried in American Cemetery, Vignot, Meuse, north of Commercy.

THERE are few men, dying at twenty-four, who leave behind them such a clear-cut record for service and character as did Lieutenant William Key Bond Emerson. Of what he stood for even as a lad, one of his masters at Middlesex has written: "'Bill' Emerson was one of those delightful, big-hearted, child-like fellows who made friends with everyone he met. At school he stood for the best in both sport and work. He was a keen competitor, but too high strung to make the ideal athlete, though he rowed on the school crew. At his books he showed marked application rather than brilliancy, but was of the intellectual type whose tastes were always refined and high." And another says: "To have known 'Bill' is a privilege I shall never lose. I recall how he looked when laughing, when serious, or when puzzled, but I cannot recall ever having seen him angry or vexed. I feel this is quite remarkable in a boy and I think it sums up 'Bill's' character pretty well."

His association with the American Field Service began in the summer of 1915. Long interested in France and the struggle she was making against the invader, he left college at the end of his junior year to serve for six months in the Vosges with Section Three. In January, 1916, he returned to Harvard and received his degree with his class in June. But twenty-one years old at the time of his first enlistment, it is interesting to note from a letter of the Section's leader the impression he made on the men with whom he worked: "He was so straightforward and so true, and such a gentleman through and through. He had a great sense of duty and loyalty and was morally as well as physically courageous. He was always so eager to do more than his share that he was an inspiration to those about him; and ever cheerful, kind, and thoughtful, he won the very deep affection and respect of everyone."

After a summer and fall spent at Columbia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the study of Aeronautical engineering, "Bill" began to chafe at the hesitation of his country in joining the allies and in January, 1917, he decided to re-enlist in the Ambulance Service. He was this time sent out with Section Thirteen, attached to a French division engaged in the Champagne offensive, but was soon afterward transferred to his old section then serving in the Balkans. Here he spent several months with the Army of the Orient in the Albanian mountains and won for himself a citation for the Croix de Guerre. By this time America had at last entered the war and "Bill" went back to France, received a commission in the American Army, and was sent to the French Officers' Training School at Valdahon, where he trained as an observer and graduated at the head of his class. Then followed a winter of further training and experience with the 15th Field Artillery and the 228th French Escadrille, and early in May, 1918, he joined the 12th Aero Squadron of the American Army in the Toul sector.

It was on one of his first trips over the lines, on May 14, 1918, that he and his pilot were shot down. One of his comrades, Lieutenant K. P. Culbert, wrote on May 21St, the day before he himself met death: "We do not know whether the 'antis' got him or whether it was a Boche plane. He went out on a réglage and was shot down in our lines. He was an honor to Harvard, a gentleman and a soldier, and the first of our little group to gain the one glorious epitaph."

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921